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The
University of Virginia Curry School of Education Receives $5 Million
Grant to Improve School Readiness December 12, 2003 -- Curry School education professor Robert C. Pianta was one of eight researchers across the country to receive a multi-million dollar grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Development to improve preschools and find the best ways to prepare preschool children for later success in school. Pianta, who has been working in this area for many years, will seek to improve preschool teacher training and support through Internet-based technology with a $5 million grant over five years. The training will focus on child literacy, language development and building social relationships. It also will incorporate the importance of parental involvement for improving children’s school readiness. Under the state-funded Virginia Preschool Classrooms Initiative, Pianta has been studying and planning how and what schools should do to impart the lifelong-learning skills that children, particularly those having learning difficulties, need to succeed academically. He has had “enthusiastic responses from nearly all [Virginia] school districts” for spring participation, he said. Preschool coordinators from public schools have been invited to a late January meeting on what the program entails. “We want to help schools build a better infrastructure for teacher support,” especially poorer schools, Pianta said. Through the initiative, teachers will receive curricular materials and computers, as well as training and support in the best ways to teach with the materials. Attached is the NICHD press release that describes the national initiative. Pianta can be reached at (434) 243-5483 or rcp4p@virginia.edu. ### Contact: NICHD Press Office (301) 496-5133 HHS,
Education Launch Research To Promote School Readiness Effort HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced a new five-year research initiative with the Department of Education to find the best ways to prepare preschool children for later success in school. In
the initiative's first year, eight institutions across the country
will receive $7.4
million in research grants to test
preschool
curricula, Internet-based
teacher
training, and the importance of parental involvement for
improving children's readiness to enter school. "This research will identify ways to help children get the most out of preschool so they can enter kindergarten ready to learn," Secretary Thompson said. "The strategies identified by these researchers will help identify effective pre-school curricula and teaching approaches. The research represents an important part of President Bush's early childhood education initiative." The new research initiative grew out the 2001 White House Summit on Early Childhood Cognitive Development, which highlighted the need for better ways to help parents, teachers, and caregivers provide young children with the intellectual and social skills they need to succeed when they enter school. The first-year grant funding includes $6.4 million from three HHS components -- the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at the National Institutes of Health, the Administration for Children and Families and the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. The Department of Education's Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services contributed $1 million for first year. The following are the eight research centers, the centers' lead investigators, and each center's primary research focus: Pennsylvania
State University, Karen L. Bierman, Ph.D. University
of Pennsylvania, John W. Fantuzzo, Ph.D. University
of California, Los Angeles, Carollee Howes, Ph.D. University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Janis B. Kupersmidt, Ph.D. Indiana
University, Samuel L. Odom, Ph.D. University
of Virginia, Robert C. Pianta, Ph.D. University
of Chicago, C. Cybele Raver, Ph.D. University
of Nebraska-Lincoln, Susan M. Sheridan, Ph.D. ### Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services • 200 Independence Avenue, S.W. • Washington, D.C. 20201 Contact: Anne Bromley, (434) 924-6861 |
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FOR
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Contact the Office
of University Relations at (434) 924-7116. Television reporters
should contact the TV News Office at (434) 924-7550. 2002
NEWS RELEASES |
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Top News site edited by Dan
Heuchert (dnh6n@virginia.edu); maintained by
Karen Asher
(kac@virginia.edu); releases posted by Sally
Barbour (sab4w@virginia.edu).
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